Drive ring for floor maintenance machine brushes



Dec. 28, 193 7.

Filed Aug. 2, 193'? v I I I Qrwc wm Xennef/r CL/If/rZ/ Grimm K. c. ATKIN 2,103,311

Patented Dec. 28, 1937 DRIVE RING FOR, FLOOR MAINTENANCE MACHINE BRUSHES Kenneth C. Atkin, Toledo, Ohio, assignor to l he v American Floor Surfacing Machine Company,

Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application August 2, 1937, Serial No. 156,879

1 Claim.

This invention relates to floor maintenance machines of the rotary brush type, and particularly to improved means attached to the brushing member of the machine and serving to 5 strengthen the brush-back against warping and breaking, and also as an element of the releasable clutch means for engaging the brush to the associated drive shaft. M

These machines for economic considerations 10 employ ring-type brushes with wooden backs, and

the shaft attaching or drive ring element that is fixed to the brush-back is customarily made in one piece of strong durable material of a nature to withstand the shock of engagement of the drive shaft element therewith and also to effectually resist the tendency of the back to warp due to its frequent subjection to scrub water.

These attaching elements have, therefore, usually been of ring-form with a circular set of over- N) hanging clutch fingers for engagement with the drive element of the shaft, and, in order to have the necessary strengthening action on the brushback, have been made in one piece of cast malleable iron, steel or bronze. Due to the frequent brush replacements necessaryin the use of such machines, the cost of these attaching elements has handicapped an extensive use of the machines, and, to overcome this, numerous ineffectual attempts have been made to provide such 30 an element which will not only be comparatively inexpensive, but will have strength requirements of the devices heretofore used.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the difficulties and objections heretofore encountered in this connection in the manufacture and use of such machines, by providing a multiple part drive ring of the character described, the parts of which areso combined and attached to the brush-back as to enable them to be made of comparatively inexpensive sheet steel and at the same time have the strength and rigidity of the heavy expensive materials heretofore used.

Other objects of the invention will be apparent 45 from the following description and from the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical cross-section of a rotary brush embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged perspective view of the metallic drive ring 50 comprising the invention, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary section of a brush and drive ring taken centrally through a, screw attaching means therefor.

Referring to the drawing, A designates a ring- 55 type brush commonly used in rotary brush scraping machines and having a wooden back I, and B an attaching or drive ring element secured to the back I and adapted for engagement with a rotary drive element, as well understood in the art.

The element B is of ring-form and composed of a plurality of separate segments 2; in the present instancev three in number, and stamped from a heavy grade of sheet steel.

Each segment 2 has a flat body part 3 terminating at one end in the successive steps 4 and 5, with the step 4 raised a distance equal to the thickness of the body part and the step 5 raised a distance above the top surface of said body part equal to the thickness of a finger of a drive spider (not shown) adapted to engage under such step.

When the segments are assembled in ringform, the step 4 of each overlaps the adjoining end of the fiat body portion 3 of the next segment with the bodies of the several segments disposed in a common plane in shouldered end to end relation. At the same time, each step 5 is in vertically spaced parallel relation to the top surface of the body part 3 which it overlaps, thus providing an open ended space 6 between the associated parts 3 and 5 for receiving a clutch finger of a drive spider. The outer ends of the steps 5 are preferably slightly outwardly flared to facilitate an easy engagement of a spider finger therewith.

Each step 4 has relatively broad instead of narrow lapping engagement with the adjoining end of a segment body 3 and these lapping portions of such step and segment body are perforated substantially centrally thereof to receive the shank member of a screw I for passing therethrough and engages a brush-back to securely retain the segments of the ring member B together and to said back. The screw 1 is preferably of the machine'screw type and is adapted to enter an expanding nut 8 having engagement within an internally tapered split bushing 9, whereby it is expanded within a receiving socket H3 in the brush-back when the screw is tightened. A tightening of the screw not only expands and tightens thebushing in the socket, but also tends to draw the outer end of the bushing 9 into clamping engagement with the metallic ring part in opposition to the head of the screw, thus efiecting a secure and rigid binding together of the lapped portions of the ring segments. This form of fastening means, in addition, serves as a most efficient means for an-- choring the attaching screws to the wooden brush-back and obviates the objections incident to the use of the attaching means heretofore cured together in end to end abutment and having lapping portions rigidly and firmly secured to each other andto the brush-back and forming'clutch fingers is as efficient in use as the malleable iron, steel or bronze rings heretofore used, is very much more economical and of considerably less weight, and that it is highly efficient in preventing warping of the wooden brush-backs and the withdrawal of thesecuring means from such backs tion.

due to the warping ac-w Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent, is:

A drive ring of the class described comprising a plurality of stamped metal segments each having a substantially fiat body portion adapted to have end to end abutment with the correspond ing portion of adjoining. segments and each at one end having a two-stepped portion with the first step in overlapping engagement with the adjacent end of the body portion of the next segment and with the second step spaced from said overlapped body portion to form a clutch finger, and means for firmly connecting said segments at their overlapping portions.

KENNETH C. ATKIN. 

